Fujitsu-Siemens announced at CeBIT that it would not choose a side in the HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray next-gen-DVD war. Fujitsu’s move comes only days after LG announced it was pulling out of exclusive Blu-ray support in favor of a neutral stance.

While both announcements hurt the Sony-led Blu-ray camp more than the Toshiba backed HD-DVD format, neither company is likely to be happy that less-invested manufacturers are hedging bets and pledging neutrality.

In related news, Atmel Corporation, a major manufacturer of optical disk chipsets, announced at CeBIT that it was producing a rather cheap and easy system-on-a-chip controller for any optical drive, be it CD, DVD, or next-gen technology. The announcement suggested that the engineering difference between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is slight, and comes down to a simple issue of factory settings.

Many suspect that the LG and Fujitsu-Siemens announcements will only be the first in a series of neutrality moves by electronics manufactures increasingly alarmed by the potential for disaster the next-gen DVD format war presents.

Source: IGN